Plant parasite affects Region Seven mangroves

Jul 06, 2010 News

– destruction of mangroves also seen in some areas

Head of Mangrove Restoration Project, Bissasar Chintamanie, says that a closer look needs to be taken at the mangrove growth in the riverain areas of Region Seven.
During the continued outreach of the restoration project it was discovered that a type of plant parasite was affecting red mangrove trees in those communities.
Chintamanie says that this is not prominent in other areas and is a bit worrying. He explained that the parasitic plant is shaped like a lily or orchid, and they are killing the mangroves.
“We are yet to get the taxonomic characteristics sorted out,” Chintamanie stated, adding “We are going to see what can be done; probably reduce the parasitism or have a programme in place to tackle that situation.”
He said that it would take less than one month to identify the parasite, but charting the way forward might take some more time. This, Chintamanie explained, is because it is necessary to find the means to control the parasite.
“We must first look at the cultural and other means before we think of spraying and so on,” he added.
As the public awareness programme moved across the region at Morashi and Bonasika along the Essequibo River, it also included communities in the vicinities of tourist resorts such as Arrowpoint and Baganara.
Two of the main focuses of the programme in these particular communities was to make residents aware of the project, and more importantly, the new law governing the protection of the mangrove species.
It was discovered that in areas some miles away from Morashi, persons are cutting down the mangrove trees in a very unsustainable manner. Chintamanie said that this was apparently done to establish businesses such as small logging, while others cut the mangroves for houses.
The problem that faced the team however was that the areas had been cleared and abandoned so no one could be held accountable; the culprits could not be found.
The team was also informed that more harvesting of mangroves was being done further upriver from Morashi.
As they related to residents of the communities, the team discovered that some had read about the public awareness drive in the newspapers, but others were not aware of what was going on, and were not aware of the laws that protect the species.
Chintamanie reported that the overall response was one of enthusiasm, “Apart from those who are cutting down, there is no destruction of mangrove. In fact, people support the idea of helping the mangrove (grow), especially the fisheries in the area,” he added.
He explained that in Region Seven most of the fish comes from the river and residents are aware that the mangroves help in the protection of younger fish.
The team will have to go further than the normal outreach programme to deal with the harvesting of the trees. They have to meet with the communities, and identify those who have been harvesting.
If this is not successful, they will seek the assistance of the Forestry Commission, since their rangers would have ideas about who would have done the harvesting. The mangrove team would then meet with those persons individually to deal with the issue.
Chintamanie explained that while the Forestry Commission does have a mandate to protect the mangroves, this was only recently passed to them with the recently amended Forestry Act.
“However, we will focus on talking with and educating residents as the first resort of dealing with the issue, before we attempt to enforce the law,” he concluded.

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Plant parasite affects Region Seven mangroves

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